Chapter 103 Brother and Sister Night Talk
Xu Qingying saw everyone looking at her with worry. She had never expected that a minor cold would attract so much concern. Her heart warmed and a forced smile appeared on her face. "I'm sorry to have worried everyone. I have a fever and I'm feeling much better after taking medicine."
Huang sat by the bed and touched her forehead, feeling slightly relieved. "It seems that it is not as hot as before."
Xu Qingying saw that Huang's face was pale, with fatigue brewing between her brows and a dark circle under her eyes.
Xu Qingying knew that the elderly could not stay up late, and her heart was moved. She squeezed Huang's hand and said, "Grandma, I'm really fine. You are old, so go back and rest quickly. What if your granddaughter recovers and you fall ill? Wouldn't I be a sinner?"
Huang was indeed feeling a bit overwhelmed, and she was touched by Xu Qingying's concern for her, so she instructed her daughters-in-law, "Alright, I can't bear it any longer, so you young ones should keep an eye on her. She just caught a cold, so prepare something light for her tomorrow morning to nourish her body."
Several daughters-in-law also responded quickly.
Miao said to Lian and Zhao, "Second sister-in-law, sister-in-law, you should go back too. I think Ying'er's fever has subsided. I can handle it alone. You should go back and rest first, so as not to delay our journey tomorrow."
Zhao said, "The rain is getting lighter now, but I don't know if we can continue our journey tomorrow morning."
Miao asked, "What happened?"
"Don't you know yet?" Zhao lowered her voice. "I heard someone say earlier that someone in the escort team is missing. That Liu Jieshi hasn't returned. Team leader Zhao said they'll go up the mountain to look for him after the rain stops."
Miao frowned, looking calm, but Xu Degui next to her stiffened noticeably.
"Hey, didn't he say before that he was in the village?"
"Who knows? I haven't seen anyone yet."
Huang Cui'e prayed to the heavens: "Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished. I hope that Liu Jieshi fell to his death in the mountains, or fell off a cliff——"
Seeing that both Miao and Zhao were looking at her, Miao Cui'e snorted, "Why, I just said it out loud. Don't you say you haven't thought about it in your heart? Aren't you afraid that Liu Jieshi will take revenge on us one day? Now that the trouble is over, we don't have to worry about his revenge on us anymore."
I've thought about it, but how can I say it out loud?
Miao tugged at Huang Cui'e and said, "Sister-in-law, walls have ears. Don't talk nonsense."
Zhao also said, "We don't know whether Liu Jieshi is dead or alive yet. What if he is found? Besides, our family is the only one in the entire team who has a grudge against him. If something really happens to Liu Jieshi, Captain Zhao will be the first to suspect us. Right now, we should keep a low profile. If others hear what my sister-in-law said, I'm afraid someone with ulterior motives will suspect our Xu family."
Huang Cui'e had no idea of this. When she heard what Zhao said, she was really frightened and became silent like a quail.
Xu Qingying said in a hoarse voice, "I'm afraid that Officer Liu is trapped in the mountains. Tomorrow, our Xu family will send a few people to look for him. Maybe we can find him soon."
Xu Degui stood by and looked at Xu Qingying deeply.
The person's face was pure and pale, with a flush from the high fever that had just subsided, which made her eyes look even brighter. When she said this, her tone was sincere and worried, as if she was not the one who slit Liu Jieshi's throat last night.
Xu Degui's heart was pounding as he met Xu Qingying's gaze.
Their eyes met.
Fang Huiming said, "Yes, why don't I go out with Zhao Bantou tomorrow to look for him? Liu Jiecha is such a grown man, as long as he doesn't encounter any wild beasts, his life should be safe."
Miao saw them off, then walked outside to say a few words to Zhao Bantou and Ming Xiaoshuang before coming back.
But Xu Qingying had already stood up, and Miao and Xu Huiming held her down.
Xu Huiming said, "Sister, tell me what you want and I'll get it."
Xu Qingying shook her head and smiled, her pale face as translucent as jade. "I can't sleep, so I want to stand for a while."
Miao fixed the quilt for her and said, "Don't even think about it. Just lie down in bed peacefully. Look, everyone is worried about you since you got sick. You are already a grown-up girl, how can you let your grandmother work so hard? Lie down quickly, and call me if you need anything."
Xu Qingying felt dizzy and sweaty after having a fever, but now she looked bright and her mind was exceptionally clear.
But she really didn't want to make Miao worry.
Xu Qingying gave in and said, "Brother, please bring me that copy of 'Shan Hai Ji'. I'll sit here and read."
Xu Huiming refused, "Reading at night can hurt your eyes."
"Brother, go ahead. I'm wide awake now and not sleepy at all. I'll read for a while, maybe I'll get sleepy."
"Well, in that case, I'll stay with you. Dad and Mom, go to bed quickly. I'm young, so I'll stay with my sister."
Xu Huiming rarely kept his word, so he actually ran down from the kang to get her the book.
Xu Meixiao slept soundly, unperturbed by the comings and goings of so many people. On the other hand, Miao, who had been busy and worried all day, soon drifted off to sleep.
Xu Degui, on the other hand, couldn't sleep.
However, he was afraid of being noticed and even more afraid of being asked about by Miao, so he did not dare to turn over and just closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
Xu Qingying sat on the kang and began to flip through the unfinished travelogue.
Only she herself knew that she was very tired, very frightened and very anxious.
She once asked Old Man Xu what it felt like to kill someone.
What did Old Man Xu say? It seemed like he said that he didn't feel anything at the time, but he didn't want to eat meat for a long time afterwards.
She has already taken two lives.
She thought she had adapted to life in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but it was not until she fell into a dream of repeated murders and Liu Jieshi's terrified eyes lingered in her mind that she realized that she had not gotten rid of the guilt of killing.
My heart is numb, my mind is empty, and I feel a little nauseous.
But she had to appear calm on the surface, because she knew that once she showed any sign of weakness, both Xu Degui and Ming Xiaoshuang would collapse.
As the backbone of the team, she must remain calm and make it impossible for people to see her emotions.
The sound of rain was drizzling, and when the sky was getting light in the early morning, the rain subsided.
Everyone was sleeping soundly. They had been sleeping in the open air for the past few days and it was rare to find a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Everyone was extremely tired, and the village was quiet and peaceful.
Xu Huiming really did what he said and stayed with Xu Qingying all the time.
He also sat against the wall with a book in his hand, occasionally glancing at Xu Qingying out of the corner of his eye, but saw that the book in her hand seemed not to have been turned for a long time.
Xu Qingying's eyes were fixed on the book, but her mind was wandering somewhere else.
Xu Huiming knew that his sister was a little absent-minded tonight.
After confirming that Miao and the others were really asleep, Xu Huiming moved his butt and slowly approached Xu Qingying. Sure enough, he saw that the travelogue in her hand was still on the very first page.
Xu Huiming sighed, feeling that her sister seemed to have a lot of worries.
He couldn't help but ask softly: "Qingying, what happened last night? Can you tell me?"
Xu Qingying tilted her head, her elegant eyes like mist focused, as if her mind had just flown back to this room.
"Brother, what do you want to know? I've told you everything you need to know."
Xu Huiming shook his head, his eyes determined, and his voice low, "I know that neither you nor Dad are telling the truth."
"You were there at the time, so you should know what happened."
Xu Huiming wanted to say something but stopped himself, but he had a premonition that Xu Qingying would not tell him the truth.
When he found his father and sister, he already realized something was wrong.
The wound on my second uncle's hand was very strange, and at that time only Ming Xiaoshuang and Xu Qingying had blood on their bodies.
If Second Uncle was really injured because he took the wrong road and fell down as Dad said, why was there no blood on Dad's body?
According to common sense, when Second Uncle fell, Dad would definitely go to help him up. But why was there no smell of blood on Dad, while Xu Qingying and Ming Xiaoshuang, who arrived later, had a strong smell of blood?
That’s right, even though it was later washed away by heavy rain, there was a strong smell of blood on their bodies at the time, which was definitely not caused by the small wound on the second uncle’s hand.
What's more, although Xu Qingying's face was calm at the time, there was an imperceptible murderous intent deep in her eyes.
Xu Huiming has been weak since childhood, so his mind is more sharp than others.
Thinking of Liu Jieshi’s disappearance tonight, an incredible idea suddenly popped up in Xu Huiming’s mind.
When he thought of this possibility, his breathing became faster.
So he turned his head to look at Xu Qingying's face, trying to get a glimpse of something from her expression.
Xu Qingying's pupils were dark, but her expression was calm. She seemed to have sensed Xu Huiming's thoughts. She closed the travel journal in her hand and asked quietly, "Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"
Xu Huiming looked away in panic, her smile a bit forced. "Nothing, I just thought the rain had stopped and we had to travel again tomorrow, and I wondered if you could handle it."
"I've had a fever and taken medicine, so I should be fine." Xu Qingying also sighed, looking at her frail body, "No, I still need to practice more."
"Practice? How are you planning to practice?" Xu Huiming looked at her with amusement. "A girl like you, are you planning to practice with a sword?"
"The sword is too heavy for me. I am more suited to close combat. Bows and arrows are also good—"
"Can you draw the bow?"
"So you have to practice. You can always improve with practice."
Xu Huiming just thought she was joking.
This world doesn't need a girl to work so hard.
The next day, the sudden downpour had subsided and the sky was bright. It looked like a fine day. The sky was clear and the mountain forest had a cool, refreshing aftermath of the rain.
Xu Qingying gathered a large group of people to explain what happened yesterday, and ordered everyone to look for the bodies. In the end, they found a total of eleven bodies in the village, all of whom were elderly people who stayed behind and refused to flee the famine.
"Don't worry, everyone. These eleven bodies belong to ordinary farmers. Team leader Zhao and I checked them out last night. Our initial estimate is that bandits from nearby came to steal their food and killed them. Since we're passing by and witnessed this tragedy, we can't just stand by and watch. What I'm suggesting is that we dig a few pits under the big locust tree to the south and bury these old men."
This statement was unanimously agreed by everyone. After all, people want to be buried in peace after death. It is just a matter of digging a hole, which can be considered a good deed.
"But what if their descendants come back and can't tell the bodies apart?"
"By the way, I don't know if their descendants will ever come back. Maybe when they come back, only bones will be left."
"Why don't we erect a monument?"
"But we don't know their names, so how can we erect a monument?"
Xu Qingying made the final decision. "I just saw an ancestral hall in the village. We'll leave a handwritten letter later. Explain where these elders are buried, what their clothing and descriptions are, so their descendants can identify them when they return."
"That's a good idea!" Mr. Fang volunteered, "Why don't I write it?"
Xu Huiming also said, "I'll write too."
The two men spread out rice paper and wrote down how they passed by this place to avoid the rain on a certain day in a certain month of a certain year and what the old people looked like when they saw them. Out of moral obligation, they buried them and also wrote down the clothing characteristics of all the people in the order of burial, so that their descendants could clearly identify them.
Of course, after this incident, the army was in a panic and only discussed the matter in whispers.
"They were all killed by the bandits. What about us? Should we continue heading towards Jinzhou? I heard that Jinzhou was severely affected by the disaster this year. Judging from the situation, there are probably at least tens of thousands of refugees. We are outnumbered. What should we do if we encounter bandits again?"
"But if we don't go through Jinzhou, do we have to go back? There are mountains behind us. We have finally come out. I don't want to go back."
"How could we be so unlucky? We might die on the road before we even reach Qianzhou."
"Yes, we are running low on dry food. Look, it's snowing so hard and there are so many refugees. We may not be able to reach Qianzhou safely."
Everyone sighed and groaned, their faces filled with worry. Zhao Bantou had no choice but to take out the map and spread it on the ground, pointing with a branch and explaining to everyone: "We got sidetracked when the refugees were chasing us, and now we're almost at the border of Jinzhou. After crossing the mountains in Jinzhou, we'll reach the edge of Qianzhou. If we go forward, it will take about ten to twenty days. If we go back, we might run into the refugees who hid in the mountains before."
"So it's a dilemma. There are deep mountains and heavy snow in front of us, and bandits behind us—"
Although Zhao Bantou was reluctant to admit it, it was also the truth, so he had no choice but to say, "That's what I mean."
"Captain, do we have to arrive in Qianzhou on time? The situation this year is so bad. Can you please give us some slack and find an excuse for us to go to the city to avoid the storm for a while? We can set off again when the road is peaceful."
Someone's eyes lit up and he immediately echoed, "That's right, Captain. Not to mention us prisoners, your life and the lives of the other comrades are also at stake. If we run into bandits again on the road, we, the old, weak, and sick, will surely be wiped out. Since the court has sentenced us to exile, it means we will be spared. If all of us die on the road, what's the point of exile? We can just be beheaded in Bianjing City."
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